One for the Murphys

by Linda Mullaly Hunt

Scott County Library paperback 224 pages

Published: 2012

Genre: YA realistic fiction

 

I'm confident I've read this book before, but I don't find it in my blog. I remember it catching my eye when I worked at Pioneer Ridge Middle School. I read this before I read Fish in a Tree! This is Hunt's debut novel and it is amazing! Again, I cried like a baby, even though I'd read it before!

 

Carly Connors is heading into foster care after her mother's new husband beat her badly enough for her and her mother to be hospitalized. The Murphys are caring for a foster child for the first time. Julie and her fire fighter husband have three boys.

 

Page 83 - I love how responsible and caring Carly is, especially when there's an emergency with little Michael Eric.

I walk over to the bed and I kneel down. Except for asking God to help me pass tests or keep my mother happy, I think this is the first day I've ever really prayed. 'Dear God, I know that I don't pray much, and I know that sometimes you probably wonder why you made me at all, but you did your best work with Michael Eric.' I look at the ceiling. 'You really did. Please. Please bring him home. Amen.' 

Page 108 - I love when Daniel shares with Carly his love of playing basketball and his fears of disappointing his father by not liking baseball. I also love how she sees that their family isn't one-dimensional.

I am shocked he told me this. I'm even more shocked that the Murphys aren't perfect after all.

 

Page  138 - The idea of "self-fulfilling prophecy" can be a negative or a positive. I wish I were consistently a mom, teacher, and friend like Mrs. Murphy.

Most of the time, it wasn't like my mother told me I was anything - good or bad. But when Mrs. Murphy tells me I'm smart, I am. When she tells me I'm funny, I am. When she tells me how thoughtful I am, I become that way. I swear, if she told me I was a duck, I'd be checking in my high tops for webbed feet.

Page 167 - My heart aches for kids who have parents who don't value them. Carly's mom is a tough cookie and she has not been especially tender toward Carly.

It's not like I'd expect her to stay home at night or join the PTA. I mean, all I want her to do is look at me the way Mrs. Murphy looks at her kids. Like I'm the best thing ever. Like she loves me more than anyone else.

Page 181 - I love how Carly and Mrs. Murphy talk about Shel Silverstein's book The Giving Tree. Although Mrs. Murphy's explanation of what unconditional love is makes total sense, I have long agreed with Carly's perspective!

"It just seems like a book about a selfish jerk and a sucker."

Page 187 - I really like that Carly has some positive and happy memories of times with her mother. Overall, this scene made me frustrated with her mom, but I'm glad Carly could find some positives.

I think of how my mother made mustaches for me out of whipped cream. How we'd eat frozen pizza and watch reruns. How, when I was much younger, she'd talk in funny cartoon voices when I was scared of the dark. I remember that in good times, she could make my stomach ache from laughing.

Page 190 - I love that Carly can reflect on her conversation with Mr. Murphy about getting people out of a burning building and make an application to her own life.

I also think that maybe I'm not supposed to be able to save my mother. Maybe I'm supposed to save myself first.

Page 204 - I enjoy seeing where the title comes from . . . and this is it! It's beautifully written. Carly is saying goodbye to Mrs. Murphy as she is heading back to her mother's care.

I think of my mom and then of Mrs. Murphy. How she's both strong and gentle; the two, twisted together like soft-serve ice cream. I wish hard that there could be two of me. One for my mother.

And one for the Murphys.

I am seriously tempted to buy this and Hunt's other books. She is an amazing author who creates believable and likeable characters.

 

<Above posted 5.9.2021. Below added 8.18.2023.>

 

Since I can listen to audiobooks at work and I love this author, I listened on Libby. Reading was by Nora Hunter and she did a fantastic job. Even though I've read this book twice before (and I completely trust the author's judgment about her story!), I felt disappointed that she went back to her mother. Part of me wanted a "happy ever after" with the Murphy's. Oh! And I love that she "hung" the little bully up by his overall straps. Grin.

The word play was cool. Silent and Listen share the same letters. Remove one letter from Friends to get Fiends. Dennis backwards is Sinned (step dad). CITGO = See it go.